​Statistics on the age of social media users are incredulous. As of July 2014, 78% of 12 to 17-year-olds (6th to 11th graders) that are active online used Facebook at least once monthly, and 52% used Instagram as often. Our world really is starting to become more about posting than relationship building. The instant gratification of online interaction and visual displays on sites such as Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram has forced educators to connect with their students in new ways.

For middle grade teachers, this transition may have been slower than instructors in higher grades, but it has become the norm none-the-less. In our experience, Instagram is the best way to unite with our students for a number of reasons.

Firstly, there is less clutter. By sticking to photos and flipgrams on our Instagram profiles, we avoid getting lost in the conglomeration of personal posts, onslaught of each major topic that muddles the feed, and drama often seen on other social media sites.